


Unrecognized Freedom

by callinthenerdfighters



Category: Cinderella - All Media Types
Genre: Coming Out, Cunnilingus, F/F, self-liberation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-10-13
Packaged: 2018-02-18 00:41:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2328953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callinthenerdfighters/pseuds/callinthenerdfighters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cinderella goes to the ball, but is disappointed when the Prince is... not to her expectations. The clock strikes midnight, but on her way out of the castle, she comes face to face with a bright future that could take her away from a dark past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

Wow, this castle really is difficult to get around, thought Cinderella as she dashed through the long corridors, the chimes of the clock tower echoing through the cavernous passages. She recalled earlier that night, when her fairy godmother, her ebony hair shining in the moonlight, warned her of this. “The Prince’s palace is full of dead ends and traps, intended to catch would-be thieves of the crown. When midnight strikes, you will change back into the rags that you were wearing before I helped you. It will be difficult to escape the palace guards once they find that an intruder has gotten into the ball. I would suggest getting out of the palace before the magic wears off.”

The dance with the Prince had not been what she had hoped for. When she had first left her stepmother’s house for the ball in the magic coach created by the fairy godmother, she had envisioned a magical evening with a sweet and charming young man with whom she would fall in love. She fantasized about a strong pair of arms leading her across the dance floor, his eyes locked on hers, as they fell uncontrollably in love. He would fall so in love with her that he would have no choice but to find her the next day and marry her, taking her away from the miserable scullery maid life into which she had been indentured by her stepmother and stepsisters. The actual events of the night were much different.

Her arrival at the palace gate was tremendous, she was blown away by the size and grandeur of the royal home. Unfortunately, that was also the case for the hundreds of other eligible young women who had arrived to woo the Prince’s attentions. Cinderella waited in line for what felt like hours, marked only by snippy small talk with uppity princesses from far away kingdoms. When the Prince finally got around to dance with Cinderella, as it was his job to dance with every young woman present, he simply said, “Okay, let’s get this one over with.” He didn’t even ask for her name! Wasn’t the Prince supposed to be charming and loving? His body was a wet noodle as he danced, his feet bricks. He stepped on her toes and the hem of her beautiful blue dress countless times, and not once did he make eye contact with her. Too busy looking at his other prospects, she presumed.

After just two short minutes, the dance was done, and Cinderella sighed in relief. Wiping his sweat off her hands, she made her way to the nearest passageway out of the ballroom. I hope this is the way out, she thought, I need to get some sleep before I have to get up to make breakfast.

She had barely made it ten feet when the bell began to peal, marking the end of the magic’s worth. Wow, that Prince had sure taken his own sweet time getting to dance with her. At this point, it didn’t matter, she just had to get out of the palace before the guards marked her as an intruder and imprisoned her, making her an embarrassment to her stepmother. That would not do, in the words of the strict woman who had held the mother-position in her life for the past seventeen years.

After running down hallway after endless hallway, Cinderella noticed a wooden door on the left side of the corridor, only a few yards in front of her. Hopefully this was a custodial cabinet, where she could switch out her ragged skirt and blouse for a palace maid uniform. That could make her invisible for long enough to get out of the palace and back in bed before her stepmother knew she had been gone.

The door was unlocked, and when she opened it, Cinderella found, instead of a cabinet with mops and brooms, a mid-sized bedroom, complete with a writing desk, mahogany wardrobe, and large four poster bed. The quilt on the bed was made of dark red and deep purple silk with deep gold tassels on the corners, the same colors as the royal banners in the ballroom. Was this the Prince’s bedroom? Cinderella quickly decided against this possibility when she noticed a tube of lipstick on the desk and a floral silk scarf draped over the back of the chair. She remembered that there had been a Princess in the royal family, but she was younger than the Prince, and the royal family had tried to keep her away from the public as much as they could in the past few years by turning the focus onto their son. Why would they hide their own daughter away from the world? What had she done that would warrant house arrest?

Cinderella suddenly heard a creak from a door to her left which she had previously not noticed, causing her to jump behind the bed to shelter her from whoever had caused the noise. It must have been a bathroom attached to the bedroom. Peeking over the soft silk bedcovers, she saw a young woman, about her age, dressed in a dark red slip. The woman was looking inquisitively in her direction when Cinderella realized that she had not completely made it behind the bed; the hem of her torn dress was sprawled out on the floor behind her, in plain view of the beautiful woman in the bathroom doorway. 

“Well, hello, welcome to my room,” giggled the woman, her dark brown curls bouncing in time with her laugh. “My name is Violet, I’m the Prince’s sister. I would ask if you were here to see him, but probably not, if you’re dressed like that.” Cinderella’s face must have looked shocked by this critique, making Violet laugh even harder. “Here, come on. What’s your name?”

“Cinderella,” she said, before she could even think of a fake name. Something about the way Violet’s eyes locked on hers made her heart beat faster and her face grow warm. She stood up from her hiding place, allowing her a full view of the hidden princess. Violet’s dark brown hair hung in loose spirals just past her collarbone, and her olive skin was sprinkled with freckles across her nose and forehead. Her eyes were a distinct shade of blue, almost purple, and her smile was mischievous and made Cinderella feel like she was hiding some kind of secret from her. The short ruby slip accentuated Violet’s curves, showing off her generously proportioned breasts and shapely hips and legs.

Cinderella realized she must have been staring because Violet giggled again and invited her to share her story. Blushing, Cinderella gave her a brief recap, trying to give a good review of the Prince’s manners, and was interrupted by Violet’s laugh. “Oh, don’t be so kind about my brother. We all know he’s an attention-hungry asshole who can’t even get through a state dinner without causing some sort of international incident by insulting a duke or baron. My parents just put him in the spotlight to take attention away from me. ‘No one would want a gay princess, that’s a sin and would reflect badly on the kingdom,’ they told me, ‘Princesses are supposed to be proper and sweet and flirt with the eligible princes, but not too much, that wouldn’t do.’ Bullshit. Why is it okay for him to be a complete ass to everyone but I’m not allowed to like girls? Oh well, I guess it’ll all work out in the end.”

Once again, Cinderella was in shock. She felt her cheeks turning red and her stomach filling with butterflies as she looked at this gorgeous woman in front of her. Her whole life, Cinderella had seen men going in and out of her stepmother’s house: delivery boys, the milk man, suitors for her stepsisters, even the occasional suitor for her widowed stepmother. While she had always been able to say they were objectively good looking, the young woman had never been able to say that she would want to marry any of them. This woman, this Violet, made her feel different; when she looked at the Prince’s sister, she felt warm in areas that her stepmother and stepsisters had always told her were the source of sin. It felt good, and it made her yearn to kiss the beautiful woman in front of her. But no, she had been taught that these thoughts were bad, that she had to suppress them.

“I like girls too,” Cinderella blurt out, “I’ve known since I was fourteen or fifteen, so a good five years. But I haven’t been able to do much about it, I’ve been very busy with work. But I’m here now, and I think you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”

A deep blush spreading across her freckled cheeks, Violet put her hand on Cinderella’s shoulder, her thumb rubbing a small circle on her collarbone. “And you’re absolutely lovely, and I very much want to kiss you right now. I want to kiss you on your lips, on your neck, on your beautiful breasts,” she whispered, pulling Cinderella closer to her, “And I want to kiss you in a way that will make you feel incredible.”

She tried to stammer out something, anything, to fill the silence after Violet stopped talking. Violet laughed again, leaned in, and kissed her, her soft lips building on the warmth that had been growing between Cinderella’s legs.

When she leaned back, Violet was still smiling, silently asking her visitor if she wanted more. A rush of conflicted thoughts passed through her tired mind, but after a moment, Cinderella kissed her back. “Yes please.”

Violet led Cinderella to lay on the bed, her long, muscular legs on either side of Cinderella’s hips. Cinderella ran her hands down Violet’s waist, hips, and thighs, momentarily pausing at the hem of her slip, tracing small circles on her skin with her index finger. Violet bent down and kissed Cinderella again, this time putting one hand in her blonde hair and one hand on her chest, tracing the underside of her breast. Cinderella responded immediately, gently sucking on Violet’s lower lip and running her tongue along its surface. Her hands went back up Violet’s legs, under the slip, stopping at her hips. She gripped them firmly and led Violet to rock ever so slightly on her own hips, finding that this caused the warm tingles between her legs to multiply. She pressed harder into Violet’s pelvis, aching for there to be less space between them.

Violet followed the cue and slipped her right knee under Cinderella’s left thigh, lifting the hem of the tattered dress enough so she could rub against her guest’s most sensitive region with her own. Cinderella arched her back to press against Violet’s warm body and let out a small sound, somewhere between a gasp and a moan. She pressed her fingers into the small of Violet’s back, grinding even harder against the warm area between her legs.

Running her tongue across the inside of Violet’s upper lip, Cinderella moved her hands up the inside of the deep red slip to hesitantly touch Violet’s olive colored breasts, gasping as Violet reacted with an enthusiastic push into her grip. Cinderella cupped her hand under her breast and rubbed gentle circles across the firm point that was beginning to form on each breast.

Violet’s passionate kisses stopped suddenly and Cinderella let out a displeased moan only to find that Violet planned to relocate her kisses to a more sensitive area. Violet looked at Cinderella mischievously as she lifted the ragged edge of the dress and descended on her clitoris, her tongue rubbing soft, slow circles around it, her index finger tracing gentle patterns across the skin on the inside of her thigh, eliciting a moan from the recipient.

“Keep going, please, harder, go inside, please,” Cinderella begged between gasps. This was a feeling to which she was unaccustomed: she felt herself growing warmer and her muscles began to tense. She could feel that she was nearing something beautiful.

Violet paused for a moment to look at her desperate partner, Cinderella’s blushing face giving away how close she was to climax, then turned her attention to the inside of Cinderella’s thigh. She lightly nipped at the soft skin where the leg met the body, then pressed her tongue against the clitoris, harder this time, and in a faster rhythm.   
The new sensation, coupled with the insertion of Violet’s index and middle fingers into her, pushed Cinderella over the edge. She felt a warmth and a tightening travel up from her entrance, where Violet was continuing the steady rhythm on her clitoris, until it reached the small of her back and spread across the rest of her body. Her body arching in time with the waves of pleasure surging through her being, Cinderella let out a moan, signaling her climax.

“You’re even more magnificent in orgasm than you are normally, which is very impressive,” Violet smiled at her guest, giving her another gentle kiss on the inside of her thigh before moving to lay down on the pillow facing Cinderella. “So? Thoughts?”

The parade of emotions that had been spread across the Cinderella’s mind failed to form themselves into a response. All she could manage was a blushing smile and a giggle.

“Wait. . . was that. . ? Am I your first?!”

Cinderella blushed a deeper red and nodded.

“Holy shit, I had no idea! Fuck, you don’t get out much, do you? You’re absolutely gorgeous, I had assumed that you had been with at least one other person! Fuck,” Violet said, rubbing her hand across her lightly freckled forehead.

The way that the swear words easily rolled off Violet’s tongue seemed suddenly so sensual to Cinderella. She remembered having said a word like that as a child, and she had received a stern spanking from it. The thought of a spanking from Violet made the warmth return to her abdomen, her body still aching from the shock of pleasure she had just experienced.

“So when do you have to be back? I assume you didn’t come to my brother’s party with an overnight bag packed.”

Cinderella’s eyes widened in panic. “Oh no, I had completely forgotten! I had to leave here by midnight so I could be back to work for my stepmother and stepsisters in the morning! I’ll never get back in time!”

“How about this. I’ll send a note to your. . . stepmother, did you say? I’ll send a note to her on some royal stationery saying that you’re needed here until further notice. Real official looking. That way, you can stay as long as you want. Any day now my family is sending me to the summer home for a few months for a bit of a “time out.” Something about me flirting with a countess. Whatever. Want to come with?” Violet’s eyes were wide and excited, urging Cinderella to say yes. She grabbed her hands and pressed them to her chest, pleading. “Please, it’ll be so fun! There are lots of walking trails through the woods, and a beach. And we can do even more fun things in the evenings in my room,” Violet said, giving Cinderella a mischievous look.

Cinderella’s mind overflowed with thoughts about what her stepmother would do if she were to find out that the kitchen maid had run away in the middle of the night with dishonored royalty. She knew that her stepmother would punish her heavily. She most likely would not punish her with her hands like she had when Cinderella was small and would cry because she missed her deceased parents, but with starvation and a whip. 

Even though Cinderella was in charge of all the cooking, her stepmother would meticulously track how much of each supply had been used when she wanted to punish her indentured servant. If too much of any one supply were used, presumably for Cinderella’s consumption, the old woman would walk briskly into the kitchen, the rigid leather riding crop in her hand, grab the beautiful blonde cook firmly by the arm, and take her outside.

When Cinderella was fifteen, she used to chat with the girl who delivered the flour every morning. She had become very fond of the girl, who was about her age, and felt butterflies in her stomach every time she saw her. Eventually, after months of talking, Cinderella finally kissed this young creature who had inspired such excited nerves in her own body, and she suddenly felt like she was flying, that she could belong to someone and have someone belong to her, that she could get away from the miserable life which she had been living. Unfortunately, her stepmother had been supervising the delivery of the flour from her window, a story above the kitchen. Cinderella’s blush had just begun to fade when the old woman stormed into the kitchen and dragged Cinderella out the door into the cold December morning, screaming for the delivery girl to leave and never return. Terrified, the flour girl ran.

She instructed her to stand in the snow and turn her back, riding crop poised above her head.

“You dare to flaunt yourself to others? On my property? To a girl?! I thought I raised you better than this. I raised you, and this is how you repay me?” she screeched, the leather strips of the crop cutting into the rough burlap of Cinderella’s dress, “That is a sin and will not be tolerated! A woman should not act on bodily urges, those are merely the feelings that the devil gives to you when he wants you to follow him. Do you have no shame? Do you not understand that the devil lives within you and wants you to follow him?”

Cinderella ran to her room and cried when she was finally dismissed, her thoughts crowding her mind. That girl had been beautiful, and she made me feel like I could conquer the world if I pleased. But maybe stepmother had been right, maybe that’s just the devil acting through my emotions and she beat my for my own good.   
Looking at Violet, her offer still lingering in the air between them, Cinderella began to cry. She felt the same as she had with the flour delivery girl, like the world was hers for the taking. She knew she wanted to go with Violet to her summer home, but her stepmother’s warning about the devil echoed through her mind.

“I’m a terrible person, I could never go with you,” she said through her tears, “I really want to, and I think you’re beautiful, but my stepmother told me that my body is filled with evil and I should not listen to it. It will only cause problems for me.”

“Oh honey, come here, it’s okay, don’t worry,” said Violet, holding Cinderella close, “No, why would anyone use something as beautiful as your body, as beautiful as these feelings we have for each other, to try to make you fall apart? And why would anyone let him get away with that? Listen, if that’s your stepmother telling you things again, I want you to know, she’s wrong, and by the look in your eyes when you talk about her, I know she’s hurting you. I want you to make the decision that would make you happiest, but from the little I’ve heard about your current home, it doesn’t sound like it’s a good place for you. Come with me, you’ll be safe and free to do as you please.”

Was this true? Did the woman who had married Cinderella’s wonderful father love her, or was she just using her so she wouldn’t have to pay for a kitchen maid? She had never considered this before. All of those times when her stepmother had hit her, telling her that it was to develop her character, all the times she had hidden her away from visitors, telling the young girl that she didn’t want the “cruel visitors” to “crush her soul,” and all of those times when she had told Cinderella that her body was filled with sin and any pleasure in the body was hurting her soul came to mind, and Cinderella, wiping the tears from her face, took a deep breath and said, “I will go with you.”  
Violet smiled, but this time, instead of the mischievous smile that she had worn before, she wore a wide, toothy smile, one that instantly made the room seem brighter to anyone around her. “Will you be needing a second bed when we’re there, or will we be sleeping together?”


	2. Chapter 2

The forest was alive on the sunny spring morning when Cinderella and Violet voyaged from the Royal Home in the capitol of the kingdom to the Royal Family’s summer home. The wind meandered through the leaves of the ancient oak trees that inhabited the forest, carrying the voices of the brightly colored birds that chirped love songs to each other from branch to branch.

The elegant coach, pulled by two stocky chestnut horses, made its way down the dirt path. The last coach in which Cinderella had ridden was the one which her Fairy Godmother had given her, and while it had been beautiful and elegant, this one was much more comfortable. There were two well-cushioned benches facing eachother, one looking forward and the other looking backward. Each bench was well-adorned with fluffy pillows, each featuring the royal crest and colors, of course.

The outside of the coach was gold-plated and featured the royal crest on each door, the open windows bordered by velvet curtains. The driver, a tall, elderly, balding man, rested his cane on the empty seat next to him and hummed folk songs to himself as he guided the strong, wide-set horses down the gravel path.

The two girls were seated next to each other with their backs to the driver and the horses, a blonde head resting on a bared olive shoulder. 

“Violet, I’m exhausted. Maybe staying up until three in the morning before leaving at six for a twelve-hour trip wasn’t the best idea,” complained Cinderella.

“Oh come on, you were the one asking for more when I said that we should go to bed,” Violet reminded her. “Vi, Vi, keep going, no, give me another orgasm,” Violet said in a mocking voice. “You know, there’s a lot of giving on my end and not as much receiving. But honestly, listening to your moans is the hottest shit ever, so I don’t mind. Speaking of which, I believe we have some unfinished business.”

Cinderella looked up, then blushed and giggled as she watched Violet’s playful smile spread across her face. Violet’s smooth hand caressed Cinderella’s knee through the cotton dress, lent to her from the Princess’s own closet. Cinderella put a hand on the hand on her knee and a hand on Violet’s cheek, pulling her into a kiss.

As Violet slipped her tongue into Cinderella’s mouth, the blonde lifted the hem of the borrowed dress and guided the tanned hand underneath to her thigh. Cinderella moved her hand from Violet’s cheek to her breast, and even through the dress, Violet responded strongly. She moved her hand higher up Cinderella’s thigh and lightly traced circles on the quickly wettening material of her panties as Cinderella pulled away from Violet’s mouth to kiss her neck, tracing a similar pattern on the delicate skin just below her jaw.

Violet pulled Cinderella on top of her and removed her underwear in a smooth series of motions, slipping her fingers inside of her as she leaned down to kiss her neck again. Violet’s index and middle fingers moved inside of her as her thumb rubbed circles around her clitoris. Cinderella responded instantly, lightly biting at Violet’s neck and sliding her hand underneath the neckline of the dress to rub the delicate skin inside of the thick fabric.

Violet let out a moan, then moved her fingers faster inside of Cinderella and tapped her clitoris rapidly. Cinderella felt herself tense around Violet’s fingers, her senses all exploding at once. As she pulled away from Violet’s neck, she realized she had lost control of what she had been doing.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, I left a mark!” Cinderella blushed. Violet laughed, responding, “It’s called a hickie, Ella, and it’s not the end of the world. Where we’re going, there will be no one who will think badly of either of us if I have one. Don’t worry.”

“Even if it’s here? Or here?” Cinderella asked, giving her partner a mischievous look as she lifted her skirt and began to nip at the skin on the inside of her left knee, tracing her tongue a few inches up her thigh before she stopped for another kiss.

Violet gasped as Cinderella’s normally gentle kisses quickly transformed into little pinches along her thigh. Cinderella’s hands moved up the curvy, olive legs and slipped her fingers under the fabric of her panties, scratching her fingernails along her lover’s full behind as she pressed her mouth against the hem of her undergarments. She pulled the lacy garment off slowly, resulting in a moan from the other woman. Her fingernails scratching lightly at the insides of her thighs, Cinderella slid her tongue inside of Violet. When she didn’t get the reaction she was hoping for, she moved to copy what had made her finish the first night they were together. Cinderella slid her index and middle fingers into her as she moved her tongue around Violet’s clitoris. This elicited a reaction.

Violet pressed her hand to the back of Cinderella’s head, begging and moaning for her to move faster. Cinderella obliged, and Violet gasped and arched her back, her body tensing to Cinderella’s touch.

“Fuck, Ella, that feels so good,” moaned Violet as the climax tapered off. “I didn’t know you had that in you, I’m impressed!”

“I’ve learned from the best,” said Cinderella shyly. “So, not to change the subject or anything, but why would your parents send you to a vacation home as punishment for doing something?”

“It’s their way of pushing things under the rug. If I’m out of sight, my ‘disease’ isn’t their problem anymore. They don’t even use the summer home anymore, it’s just become an island of misfit toys, of sorts. I don’t mind, the people my parents hired to keep the place up and running are nice, and bad weather doesn’t come very frequently.”  
“Sounds like you’ve been here a few times.”

“Yeah, they aren’t too fond of my ‘lifestyle choice’ and how I ‘can’t keep it under control.’ I wink at one suitor for my brother and they send me away as soon as they can get transportation arranged. They liked the idea of you coming with me, though. They seem to think that having a ‘focus for my inappropriate attentions’ would be good for me, help me to settle down.”

Cinderella’s complete lack of a poker face deceived her again as her surprise at the thought of settling down with Violet became apparent.

Violet, noting the deep flush that had covered her shocked lover’s face, began to explain, “I like you, a lot, and in this past week and a half we’ve spent together, that feeling has only gotten stronger. You’re incredibly sweet, maybe one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and I love spending time with you. I love talking with you. I love sharing meals with you. I love sharing my bed with you, I love cuddling with you, I love having sex with you. When I’m away from you, like a few days ago when my parents sent me to see that priest to see if he could ‘cure’ me and you had to sit in the library for four hours until I got back, I never stopped thinking about you. That pretentious asshole kept telling me that what I felt for women was sin and I should strive to purge all of that from my mind, and I kept responding with, ‘There’s no way a feeling for someone that’s this beautiful could ever be a sin. This is so much more than lust, even though her body is beautiful beyond all comparison. I refuse to erase her from my life. I feel an emotional connection with her that I haven’t felt with anyone else. She’s so beautiful because of who she is.’”

Cinderella had begun to tear up as she realized how much she meant to Violet. “I haven't heard anyone tell me that I mean something to them, that I’m a special part of their life, since my father passed away fifteen years ago. I feel the same way towards you. I love books, and sitting in a library with no other cares in the world would normally be the most wonderful thing I could do, but I couldn’t focus on a single word in any book I tried to read when you were gone. I just kept thinking that all of this would be so much better with you. It’s not only that I missed you, but that I realized that I want to spend as much time with you as I can. You’re lovely in every way, and I want to share my life with you.” By this time, tears were running down Cinderella’s face, tracing a curve around her loving smile.

For the first time, Cinderella saw Violet cry. “Oh my God, you have no idea how much of a relief it is to know my feelings are reciprocated. You’re so wonderful.” Violet laid down, her head resting on the arm of the thickly cushioned bench, pulled Cinderella down so that her blonde head was resting on Violet’s full breasts. The two young women, teary smiles on both of their faces, fell asleep in each other’s arms, and didn’t awaken until their arrival at the summer home that afternoon.


	3. Chapter 3

“Shit, we’re here already? This trip always feels like it takes forever when I come by myself. Come on, baby, wake up,” mumbled Violet as she stretched her neck to look out the window without startling the slowly waking beauty resting on her chest.

“It didn’t feel that long, but we must have been out for a long time. I’m starving!” responded Cinderella, her fair hands rubbing her dream-filled eyes.

Violet grinned suddenly, remembering something exciting, all signs of fatigue gone from her face. “We get soup tonight! The head cook, Helga, likes to make me soup the first night I come. Chicken tortellini is my favorite, I hope that’s what we’re having!”

The coach lurched to a stop, the steady rhythm of horseshoes on gravel no longer audible. Violet and Cinderella looked out the window as the coach driver came to the door to help them hop down to the ground. The coach had pulled up in front of the house, if you could call it that, and it was visible, in all it’s majesty, to the young women.

“Oh my, this is much larger than I had imagined!” exclaimed Cinderella, taking in the large structure in front of her. It wasn’t made of stone, like the castle in use by Violet’s family. Instead, its large stucco facade gazed back at Cinderella. It was shaped like a large “U,” the two arms reaching out to embrace the young couple and welcome them. Each wall was covered in vines and pink and purple blooms, a balcony peeking out from between the foliage every here and there. A large tree, covered in fragrant flowers, stood proudly in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by an extensive hedge garden, paths created here and there by stones between the full, leafy plants. The orange light from the setting sun shone a warm light on the estate and made the ancient oak look content and welcoming. “You said this would be a small place!” Cinderella said, her face frozen in shock at the impressive residence.

“My dear, sweet Cinderella, I said it was smaller than my family’s main home. I said nothing about it being small in the objective sense of the word. Now come on, I have some surprises for you!”

Violet grabbed Cinderella’s hand and pulled her to a large wooden door on the wing to their left. Cinderella moved to help her open the heavy door, but as they approached, the door swung open to greet them.

“Good evening, Violet, good to see you again,” said a deep, velvety voice from the doorway. Blocking the way of their entrance to Violet’s summer home stood a tall, strongly built man. He had glossy dark hair that had been styled a little too carefully to curl in just the right way to make his angular face seem softer. He had dark eyes that had an all-knowing gleam in them, and they made Cinderella feel uncomfortable. The smirk on his face was that of a man who felt he was far more attractive than he actually was, and his body leaning against the doorframe, arm reached out to hold the door in a way that would show off as many muscles as he could, was clad in dark corduroy pants and a blue button-down shirt, which he wore open.

Violet’s fingers became cold in Cinderella’s grasp, her olive face suddenly as pale as the moon. Eyes unblinking, she began to stammer a response to the man’s greeting.

The man smiled at her, taking her limp hand in his and saying, “Good to see I can leave you speechless again, my dear. My, you look as beautiful as ever, and I’m glad to see you brought a friend. That’ll make our evenings much more interesting, now won’t it? Two beautiful women and me the only attractive young man for miles? I’m a very lucky man, and I’ll be happy to make you both feel welcome once you get settled in.” He kissed Violet’s hand, his eye’s never breaking contact with hers, then kissed Cinderella’s hand, making her blush. He smiled at her response, assuming it was a blush of pleasure instead of the blush of embarrassment that she felt as his hungry eyes traveled down her body.

Neither Violet nor Cinderella gave a response to his offer, and his face quickly showed the frustration he felt. “Hey now, don’t be rude. I’ve just offered you a wonderful evening, and you’re just going to deny it? Now, I don’t know about your friend, Violet, but I know your parents raised you to treat your suitors with respect. I’ll let you take some time to consider my offer. I hope to hear back soon. You know where my room is.”

The unnamed man winked at them, sending chills down Cinderella’s spine, then moved past them to saunter into the courtyard. Before Cinderella could see where he went, Violet had violently grabbed her elbow and begun to run down the long passageway, tears streaming down her face and her breath heavy and pained.

Her dark waves flying behind her, Violet led Cinderella past wooden door after wooden door until she finally yanked one open and slammed it shut behind them.

“I fucking thought he was gone, when I left here last year he told me he was leaving to study in fucking Paris or some shit for a few years and wouldn’t be back. I thought he was gone!” Violet screamed between short, pained breaths. “He’s such an asshole, how the fuck did he know that I was coming back? How can my brother be friends with such an asshole? Why the fuck is he here? I fucking told my parents about all the shit he did to me, I told them they had to make him leave!”

Violet’s eyes met Cinderella’s, begging for answers. The stream of profanity suddenly stopped as Violet’s tear-filled eyes overflowed with panic, the normally enticing blue seeming more like the ocean in the middle of a hurricane. She squeezed Cinderella’s arm with one of her hands and started grabbing at her chest with the other. “Oh God, my chest, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe! Tell me. . . ummm. . . tell. . . tell me a story. Yeah, tell me a story about something good, something happy. And grab that blanket on the bed. The purple one. Just wrap it around me and tell me everything will be okay.”

Cinderella did as she was asked, telling her distraught lover, her soft, cooing voice soothing the panicked brunette, a story that her mother used to tell her when she was little and afraid of something. Her gentle voice took her lover to an idyllic pasture, where a young shepherd climbed a tree to watch his sheep on the hillside. She described the fresh, grassy scent of the rolling land stretched before him, the gentle melody created by the birds’ music on the wind, her smooth voice illustrating every detail of the open field beneath the open sky.

Violet’s posture relaxed and her breathing calmed with every melodic word spoken by her blonde lover. She looked at Cinderella, her eyes clearly conveying the gratitude she felt. Looking back into Violet’s eyes, usually so confident and sexy, Cinderella saw herself. She saw the pain and the scorn that had been forced on her for so many years, and the shame that so many people she trusted had felt for her.

“If you don’t mind my asking, who was that man? I didn’t like him at all, and there’s no way he can be good if he caused that kind of reaction in you,” Cinderella murmured to Violet, squeezing her in a hug as she slid under the blanket to sit with her.

Violet closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then, her voice shaking, responded, “He is one of my brother’s friends. His name is Leonard and he’s lived near the summer palace for years. He and my brother used to play together when they were little and we would come here, and he would always pull my hair and steal my toys. My parents told me it was because he liked me and I should be flattered. When they told me that, I thought that it was complete bullshit and I hated him all the more for it. I didn’t like him, and if I did, I would be nice to him, not an ass like he was.

“When I told him I didn’t like him and I only liked girls, he got very upset with me. Right away, he told me that he would be sure to change my mind.” Violet stopped here, choking on her last words. Cinderella reached her arm around Violet’s back, trying to show her that she was in a safe place now.

“He continued to hit on me and try to get me to date him. One night, when I was fifteen or sixteen, he ate dinner here with my family and I. My parents kept commenting on how cute we would be together, that we should be betrothed. It only encouraged him.

“After dinner was over, I went back to my room. I just wanted to be alone. Someone knocked on the door, and I thought it was my mom or dad,” she said, tears sailing down her face, falling from her chin and leaving dark spots on the hemline of her dress. “He opened the door and locked it behind him, then he pushed me onto the bed. The whole time, he kept saying ‘This will change you, this will show you how good I feel, you had this coming for saying you like girls, this will convince you to not waste yourself,’ as if the most important part of me was the part that could give him pleasure and it was selfish of me to not let him have me.”

Cinderella sat in shock at her love’s revelation, then wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close. “You’re not selfish, you didn’t deserve that. Don’t ever think you need to change, not for anyone. You’re perfect, you’re so incredibly wonderful. Please, know that.” Tears fell down Cinderella’s face too, and they fell on Violet’s beautiful hair as she pulled her head to rest on her chest. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Hold me. Let’s go to bed.”

Cinderella led Violet to the bed, wrapping their entwined forms in the comfort of the soft blankets. The world couldn’t bother them anymore.


End file.
